Injured midfielder Peter Haring admitted it was frustrating to watch Hearts’ poor start to the season from afar but he is hopeful the Jambos can continue their recent resurgence.
The Austrian returned to Scotland last weekend after spending six weeks in his homeland to focus on his recovery from a pelvic injury.
While Haring was away, Hearts made a disappointing start to their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign, picking up just two points from their first five games to sit bottom before Sunday’s 2-1 victory over local rivals Hibernian lifted them to eighth.
Hearts then built on that victory by beating Aberdeen on penalties at Tynecastle on Wednesday to progress to the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup.
The 26-year-old, who made it back to Edinburgh in time for the derby win at Easter Road, is confident Hearts can rise up the table, and they have the opportunity to make further strides when they visit St Mirren on Saturday.
Haring told Hearts TV: “When I was watching the games at home I was frustrated. I wanted to see the team win.
“Because of the quality I know we’ve got in our team it was even more frustrating, for me as well as the players and coaching staff.
“Last season was pretty different to this one but I’m pretty sure we can turn things around.”
Haring is relishing the prospect of building up his fitness out on the training pitch but insists he knows the importance of making a full recovery before returning to action.
He added: “I have to be fit again and back in shape before I go back out and play football. That’s obvious.
“I’m really looking forward to the next couple of weeks, just to be back outside running and playing football and get back into condition.
“When you’re away from the team but you know you should be here helping them, you should be out on the pitch playing, it’s hard to really focus on your recovery and not think too much about the team and the football stuff.
“There are moments when you feel really good and think ‘perfect, I’ll go out and play football again’ and then it hits you back twice.
“It’s a really difficult injury to manage and you really have to be patient.
“That’s probably the most difficult thing for a football player or a sports person.
“If you feel well then you want to be out on the pitch or back training but sometimes you just shouldn’t do that which is probably the most difficult thing about this type of injury.
“I got an injection last season, before we played the cup final against Celtic. After that I felt really good.
“There was no pain at all so I said that I was fit and I want to play that game. It was not really like the gaffer rushed me to play or anything like that.
“I was really comfortable with my body and I felt fine to play the game. That’s why I played. If I felt that I couldn’t help the team because I was sore then I wouldn’t have played.”
